The Murder at Downton Abbey
by BlueRose98
Summary: It's february and a ball is held at Downton to celebrate the engagement between Mary and Matthew. But the worst happens and when a body is found it's up to Edith and Anna to find the murderer before he strikes again. Very, very AU. My first story so It's probably not good at all.
1. Prolouge

**AN: Before you'll start reading this story I'll have to warn you about a couple of things;**

**First, I'm a native swedish speaker so my english is not the best. I'll try my hardest but there might be a few grammatical errors.**

**Second, At least one of the main characters in this story will die, if you have a problem with this I suggest you stop reading now.**

**I think that was all, right I probably have to mention that this is my first story, so it's probably pretty awful. Anyway, reviews are always welcome,**

**Enjoy!**

The murder at Downton Abbey

Prologue: Letters, revenge and orange juice

_The Earl of Grantham_

requests the pleasure of Your company to celebrate the engagement of

his daughter _Lady Mary Crawley_ to _Mr. Matthew Crawley_

The invitation was plain, simple actually, were it laid on the table in front of him, together with a letter from Lady Grantham. The letter said that she wanted him to come to the ball, just to show that despite their past they could still be friends.

What a joke!

He frowned and threw the letter and the invitation on the floor, an immediately the butler was there to pick it up. Breakfast alone had some advantages such as the fact that you could throw anything on the floor and nobody was there to notice your unacceptable manners.

He took a sip of the crystal glass filled with orange juice and smiled grimly.

Of course Lady Grantham didn't want them to be friends, she only wanted him there because he'd started to become something in society and it would be a scandal if he wasn't there. The old blood still flowed deep through the veins of nobility, and with that, came the manners, the shallowness and the pride. Once he'd wanted to be one of them, he'd used all that was in his power to accomplish that, and god knows he'd been close, so very, very close. But then something had happened, and after that he saw everything with new eyes. He saw, for the first time in his life, how despicable they were, how silly and shallow and simply old fashioned their world was, and how the image he'd made of a perfect aristocratic life shattered in front him. They'd driven him out, but he felt no regret, only relief, anger and a desire for vengeance.

The letter was a stupid joke but the invitation might be useful, of course it wasn't Lady Grantham's intentions but it gave him an opportunity.

Ever since the day he'd last seen them, he'd been planning his grand vengeance. Almost two months had passed and his plan was almost finalized; oh, how lovely it would be to finally do what he'd wanted for so long, no not wanted to, needed to. Because now he felt the urge within his body to do it again, to feel the power of having someone else's life within his hands, and to feel like a god playing with the lives of his mortals. Doing what he wanted to do.

The murderer swallowed the last of his orange juice, smiled and left the table.

**TBC...**


	2. Chapter 1: A rainy day in London

**AN: There isn't much to say about this chapter, maybe except that it's quite boring and not very long at all. The first chapters will actually be quite boring, with lots of talk and a few things that happens. But I promise, things will happen in chapter 4. Anyway, I should shut up and let you read my boring chapter now.**

Chapter 1: A rainy day in London

The rain poured down, making big dirty pools on the streets. This cold and rainy morning, the weather was especially bad even for a February in London.

Today Miss Gloria Winston, daughter of sir Hannibal Winston, were out walking, her eyes set on the street to avoid the pools of filthy water, and because of that she didn't see the woman approaching her to the right. Not until someone called Gloria's name, she looked up.

"Miss Gloria Winston, it's you, right?"

Gloria recognized the voice as Lady Edith Crawley's, and when she looked up, Edith smiled at her.

"Yes it's me. It's lovely to see you Lady Edith! How is your family?"

"They're perfectly fine. Mary is engaged, much to the delight of mama and papa of course, and Sybil is married, living in Ireland."

"Oh, I've heard of that, we taught to visit the wedding, my mama and I, but my aunt caught the Spanish flu so mama had to stay home and take care of her."

"Such a pity, Sybil would have loved if you came. The wedding was so small; more guests would only have made her happy."

"Yes, but tell me about Lady Mary's engagement, there has been so many rumors and stories about her. You know, yesterday I read this awful story about her and a Turkish diplomat in the papers. I think the diplomat's name was Pamuk, but I'm not sure."

Edith's face darkened and Gloria gave her a questioning look.

"It's not my sake to tell. You can ask Lady Mary but I'm not sure she'll answer," Edith said, uneasiness clear in her voice.

Gloria decided not to dig further into it, so instead she changed the subject:

"Tell me about the wedding instead then, will it be in the summer? Not in may I suppose? I remember your grandma always said; marry in may rue the day."

"Oh, I remember that too, I think it's one of grandma's favorite lines. But yes, I think it will be in June, Matthew wanted a summer wedding."

"I've never met Matthew, how is he?"

"Oh, he's nice, I guess, even though he broke Lady Mary's heart too many times."

"But why would she want to marry the man who broke her heart?"

"Oh, she doesn't care, I think she actually loves him, and papa does too, Matthew is like a son for him. Everyone think they'll be a great couple but I'm not sure, I don't trust him."

Gloria wondered if there was more behind it than Mary's broken heart, last time they talked it sounded like Mary hadn't even got a heart. It was time to change the subject again, she realized:

"Ah, but let's not talk about such depressing matters, how is your parents?"

"They're fine, thank you. But I wonder, would you like to spend a couple of days at Downton with me and my family, mama is having a ball at Saturday, to celebrate Lady Mary's engagement, and papa were talking about a hunt in Wednesday?"

The big smile on Edith's face made it impossible to say no, and Gloria didn't want to either, a couple of days at Downton would be a nice change from the hectic life in London.

"That would be lovely; I gather some of my old acquaintances from the countryside will be there also."

"Yes, but you'll find us quite outnumbered compared to the people from the city. Lots of house in Yorkshire were sold after the war."

"By the way, who live at Haxby now?"

"Haven't you heard? Haxby was bought about a year ago by Sir Richard Carlisle, Lady Mary's ex fiancé"

"Why would he want to live so close to her, especially when she's getting married to someone else now?"

"To annoy her I guess. Their break up wasn't really a smooth affair and it's not a secret that he's still quite angry with her and Matthew."

"Will he come to the ball?"

"He might do, mama send him an invitation. Although Lady Mary doesn't know, and she won't be too happy when she finds out either."

"About the ball, may I bring a guest there?"

"I'm quite sure you can. Are we talking about a certain gentleman?"

Edith smile subtly when she said the last and Gloria giggled a little.

"No, of course not! I were thinking about bringing my younger cousin Miss Imogene Hamilton, she's barely eighteen and need visit these kind of balls, my mama has made it her first priority to find a suitable bachelor for poor little Imogene."

At the mention of this Edith turned pale, she seemed almost on the verge of tears, eyes threatening to spill over and face showing nothing else than complete misery. Sensing something was wrong, Gloria put a hand on Edith's shoulder and asked with compassion in her voice:

"Are you quite alright?"

"Y-yes, I think I am. It's just all so overwhelming sometimes."

But despite what she'd said her whole body was still wracked with small sobs so Gloria led her over to a bench fortunately placed at the side of the street, sitting down beside her and trying to calm her.

"No you're most certainly not all right. Calm down a little and then tell me what's wrong"

"I-t's nothing really, I'm just overreacting, that's it."

"No, it's not! Tell me everything now."  
"I guess that I'm just a bit jealous, when you told about this Imogene whom your mama wanted to find a husband, I just got a little jealous, and my parents never cared to find anyone for me. It was only Mary and then Sybil. I even heard them once; 'I think Edith will be the one taking care about us when we grow old' and later I heard Mary tell them 'Edith need all help she can get with her prospects' but nobody cared, they never thought- they never think- I'll marry."

Gloria immediately felt compassion with Edith for her story, such an awful thing to hear from one's parents.

"Oh poor girl! Such an awful thing to hear, especially from your parents!"

"Oh, but it was so long ago, I'm just stupid to dwell on that now, not since I should be happy with my life anyway."

"Yes, you should be happy, and there is still a chance of marriage. Wasn't Anthony Strallan close to proposal before the war?"

"Not anymore."

"With the right words I'm sure you can make him change his mind."

"No, but I won't weigh you down with my problems. Please excuse my awful behavior, it won't happen again."

"No damage done, dear Edith."

"Thank you, but may I ask, will you come to the ball?"

"Yes of course, if it's not too much trouble for your family."

"Of course not, my mama thought we should send you an invitation to you, but then I ran into you now. And Mary would love if you came.2

"Then I most certainly shall."

"Great, could you take the train at nine o' clock in Wednesday, and I'll send someone to pick you up."

"Splendid! I'm quite sure both Imogene and I will enjoy ourselves a lot."

The clock stroked twelve and Edith smiled faintly:

"I really have to go now; mama will be back from the tailor any moment. I'll see you in a couple of days then. Goodbye!"

"Goodbye!"

Edith went away in the opposite direction and Gloria continued her walking, a bit lighter in mood after her chat with Edith.

**TBC…**

**AN: That's all for now. I'll try to update ASAP but it might take a while, next chapter is a long way from finished. Anyway, reviews are always welcome…**


	3. Chapter 2: The train to Downton

**AN: I cannot begin to apologise for the time it took to write this chapter. And it's still just a filler. I know, you all hate me now, but in the next chapter things will begin to happen. And since I have it partly finished in my notebook, it will probably be posted soon. But thanks for the reviews, I've thought a lot about some of them, especially one and the paradox it has given me. Also thanks to all the alerts/favorites, I really appreciated it.  
**

**By the way, I just saw The Hobbit, it was amazing! Any fellow Lord of The Rings fans out there who've also seen it?  
Anyway, enjoy the chapter.  
**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Downton, if I did episode five of season three would never have happened.**

Chapter 2: The train to Downton.

A couple of weeks later Gloria was standing on platform number four at Kings Cross station, waiting for the train to Downton, which was expected in five minutes.

Together with Gloria was another woman, with light brown hair worn up casually and the kind of posture every recent debutant had. She wore a navy blue dress, very simple but still very fashionable and a huge white hat to go with it. This woman was Imogene; the one Gloria had spoken to Edith about a couple of days ago. And of course Gloria was right, Imogene looked immensely nervous, the ball being her first off-season ball.

Imogene looked nervously around, half expecting someone she knew to pop up from behind. As her grandmother always had said:

'_Be very careful, you never know who might appear at a station.'_

When a loud signal was heard, she jumped up and if Gloria hadn't put a hand on her arm she would have fainted. If it was something Imogene had, it was fragile nerves.

While spewing out lots of smoke the train rolled into the platform, making people to cough. Gloria and Imogene both walked towards the train in order to find the first class compartments.

Well aboard it was easy to find seats since there weren't much peopling on the train this early hour.

Maybe it was fate, but something drove Gloria's eyes towards a couple sitting by a window. The man had dark blonde hair and what looked like grey eyes, wearing a well-fitting costume and a small hat. Even though he hadn't those aristocratic features he looked quite handsome. Beside him, by the window, a woman sat, her hand resting lightly on his leg. She wore a dark blue suit, not really successful in hiding her quite visible pregnancy, and her dark hair was worn up in a simple but beautiful way. Her face was a little worn from weather and wind, but you could still see that she was the one in the couple with the aristocratic features.

It took Gloria a moment to recognize her, but after a few second she realized who she was. The woman by the window was Sybil Branson, the former Lady Sybil Crawley.

"Sybil!" Gloria exclaimed, and Sybil looked up with a wide smile on her lips.

"Gloria, how nice to meet you", Sybil said, with only the slightest trace on Irish in her voice, "may I introduce you to my husband, Tom."

Gloria smiled and introduced herself and Imogene to Tom

"Come sit here with us, I suppose the two of you are coming for the ball at Downton too?"

Sybil gestured towards the two seats besides her and Tom.

"Yes, thank you. Of course we're coming for the ball. Although I haven't met Mary in a while." Gloria answered and even Imogene smiled faintly. They sat down, very pleased with the fact that they had met the Bransons at the train.

After a while Imogene broke the silence, asking Tom a quiet question:

"So, Mr. Branson, what do you work with?"

"I'm a journalist, working in one of the larger papers in Ireland."

"How interesting, I've always thought very highly of journalists"

Imogene blushed a little, trying to steal as many glances of Tom as she could without being noticed.

"I'll take that as a compliment. And yes, it's a very interesting occupation."

"I imagine it is. You know, I had this very distant relative who ran off to become a journalist, his family really wasn't pleased at all."

Imogene smiled, a little brighter this time, and continued to gaze admiringly at Tom.

Leaning closer, Gloria whispered to Sybil:

"I think my cousin is starting to develop quite a crush on your husband."

Sybil smiled and whispered back:

"Oh, I hope not. I'm not sure if I would like that."

It was meant as a joke but her eyes revealed the truth in her words. Fortunately Tom heard what she'd said and took her hand, squeezing it gently.

They fell into comfortable silence, focusing on their own thoughts and occasionally smiling a little at each other. At first Gloria felt comfortable with the silence, but after a while it started to feel a little awkward. Sybil and Tom sat together, whispering things you really didn't want to hear, oblivious to the surroundings, and Imogene had picked up her book, also oblivious to the surroundings. It was time to start up the conversation again before tom and Sybil's whispering became too loud and before Imogene started commenting her book, she was reading Pride and Prejudice and only had the end left, so a small 'finally!' or 'wait, no!' wouldn't be too unthinkable.

"You must miss your family really much, don't you Sybil?"

"Why, yes, I really do miss them."

"Of course you do."

It wasn't much of a conversation but just a few moments later the train rolled in at the Downton station and they all got up, preparing to get off the train.

When they got off, and elderly chauffeur greeted them, presenting himself as Lewis, the new chauffeur at Downton Abbey. They drove away, once again in silence.

* * *

Almost precisely the same moment, another chauffeur stood waiting at the station to pick up another woman.

The rain had been pouring down half the day and the chauffeur started to feel more and more uncomfortable as the water crept further into his shoes, making him shiver a little where he stood.

Why am I doing this, he thought, I don't even know who I'm supposed to pick up. She might as well not exist.

After a few minutes more of waiting, the train finally arrived at the station. The chauffeur had been told to look out for a quite short woman with dark hair and a pretty face. Well, he thought, not for the first time of the day, lots of women are pretty, how am I supposed to find the right one?

The prospects of finding her didn't seem to get much better when at least a dozen women passed by him, more than half of them with brown hair and almost all with a pretty face.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, she showed up, and once the chauffeur had seen her it was impossible to be annoyed over such a petty problem as wet shoes.

Indeed, she had a very pretty face, but that wasn't what drove his attention towards her, neither was it her height, for she was quite short for a woman of her age, or her hair that seemed to have a will of its own.

No, what were so special with the woman in front of him were her extraordinary clothes. She wore a pink skirt, an also pink coat, white gloves and a very, very big hat to go with it. Described that simple way it might not sound very special, but it was the details that mattered. Such as the skirt and the coat's lining with fur, and the giant flowers that decorated the hat. But these things weren't what first caught the chauffeur's eyes, because the most spectacular part was the colour of her clothes.

Everyone had seen a pink coat before, a few years ago that was the colour of almost every gown in London, but alas, this was not the more common dusky and soft colour. No, this was something else, something brighter. Brighter and more intense.

Behind the woman walked a maid, carrying two small bags, one that probably belonged to the woman and one that seemed to fit with the maid's simple clothing.

Well, the chauffeur thought, I suppose his lordship always had quite a different taste. But despite the woman's strange looks he smiled courteously and waved her towards the car.

"Good day milady", he said and bowed slightly to her when she entered the ca.

The drive back to the house was dull since both the woman and the maid stared out of the window, almost as if they never had seen the English countryside before, which perhaps wasn't so strange since them both, from what the chauffeur had heard, came from the States.

The chauffeur himself spent the time glancing at the maid sitting beside him. She was quite pretty, he decided, even though she tried to keep it hidden behind a frown and dark looks.

After a few more minutes they arrived back at the house, and as always his lordship and the butler, Hart, stood outside prepared to greet another one of the countless guests that had come there during the last few months.

A soon as the chauffeur opened the door, the lady stepped out and walked to his lordship, who greeted her with the simple and not too refined:

"Welcome, Lily."

**AN: So, a few more characters introduced, one who'll become very important later on. And in just a few chapters someone will die, can you guess who? **

**I've considered rewriting the prolouge because it's quite a bit out of character. What do you guys think?  
**

**Well, that's it for now. I wish you all a happy christmas, since probably I won't before.  
**

**/18thcenturydramaqueen  
**


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